


Fifteen Minutes (DISCONTINUED)

by GobbyGobs



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: (but no one dies he just feels guilty), Angst, Anxiety, Blood and Injury, Evil Yokai, Gen, Natsume's Non-Existent Self-Preservation, Permanent Injury, Survivor Guilt, Tanuma-POV, Tanunatsu if you want to read it like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23581678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GobbyGobs/pseuds/GobbyGobs
Summary: Tanuma always thought Natsume was exaggerating when he told the darker-haired teen to stay away from yokai business because it's "too dangerous."Now he wishes he'd believed his mysterious friend, for it was too late to go back now.Now Natsume is hurt, and it's all. his. fault.!!! THIS STORY IS DISCONTINUED !!!
Relationships: Fujiwara Touko & Natsume Takashi, Madara "Nyanko-sensei" & Tanuma Kaname, Natsume Takashi & Tanuma Kaname
Comments: 31
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

Natsume is doing it again. That thing where he suddenly stops, then tells everyone that he forgot something and runs off, leaving everyone behind in confusion. Tanuma knows better though. He follows Natsume for a little bit, before calling out, “I’ll come with you.” At that, Natsume wheels around to face him. Tanuma is a little stunned because, well, he’s never quite seen Natsume’s eyes look like _that_ before. Almost all of his other facial features are schooled into his usual calm, indifferent expression like normal. His eyes though, oh his _eyes_ , are full of such raw fear and unadulterated panic, that Tanuma’s resolve wavers for a second.

“You can’t come Tanuma, it’s not safe.” Natsume’s voice cracks at the end, betraying the alarm that is being schooled into submission.

“I want to come. You always say it’s not safe to get involved, but I’ve never been in danger before.” His resolve is back, and it’s stronger than it was. Before he can plead his case any further, he sees Natsume’s eyes dart to a spot not too far behind him, high up in the sky. He sees the panic finally take over. He sees his face turn even more pale than usual. He sees Natsume debating something in his head. Not even two whole seconds had passed before Natsume is running off, and boy was he _running_. In all his adventures with Natsume, Tanuma had never seen him go that fast. For a moment, Tanuma thinks ‘he should join the track team.’ Then it all comes crashing down like an avalanche. Natsume _saw_ something. He saw something and it _scared_ him. He saw something that scared him and made a decision. A decision to run, and to let it _chase_ him.

By the time Tanuma finished processing what just happened, Natsume was long gone. Tanuma is still confused at why the panic in his friend’s eyes was so _intense_. It’s not like this is a rare situation to find himself in. Hell, even Tanuma has ended up in this situation with Natsume more than once in the past. The first thought that he has after he realizes that is, ‘why not add one more time to the list?’ At that he begins to run in the direction that he saw his pale-colored friend sprint off in.

Once Tanuma reaches the edge of the forest, he slows down so he can look for where Natsume might have gone. Even after wandering for a minute or two, he still can’t see anything hinting at the location of his friend. So, he stops completely and listens. He listens for a few long moments (long enough to almost be minutes) when he hears quiet breathing. It’s muffled, like someone is covering their mouth to make less noise. Tanuma smirks and follows the faint sound, all the way to a tree that had fallen over a ditch, making a fantastic hiding place. Tanuma snuck into the hiding place from behind Natsume, “I found you, idiot.”

Natsume startled so hard Tanuma was worried he’d hit his head on the fallen tree. Once he realized Tanuma wasn’t a vengeful yokai, Natsume looked _furious_ , well about as mad as his neutral features could get anyways. He looked like he wanted to yell, but they were hiding so he settled for whispering furiously “Oh my god. What are you _doing_ here?! I thought I told you it’s not safe! This yokai isn’t like the ones you’ve met before. It’s a dangerous one. Even Nyanko-sensei says it’s dangerous. You shouldn’t have followed me, Tanuma. It’s- it’s not _safe_ to be here! You shouldn’t be here. You have to leave.”

At this point Natsume was bordering on hysteria, which was concerning in its own right. Tanuma had to calm him down before he started hyperventilating. Gripping Natsume’s shoulders, he looked him in the eye and said, “you _did_ tell me it was dangerous. And I ignored you, but it’s fine. I’ll be fine. I can protect myself just fine. It’s. Fine. Okay?” He emphasized the last few words in hopes of calming his hysterical friend down, it mostly worked. The only remnants of Natsume’s previous panic was his shaking hands, and eyes flicking all over the place, checking for danger.

He composed himself for another moment before he began to speak to Tanuma, “I still think you should go-” Tanuma wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and he could see the moment Natsume gave in. “Fine. Don’t give me that face, you can come. But please stay hidden. I don’t want it to see you. Or me.” The last part was whispered, and it sounded like an afterthought to Tanuma.

“Yeah! Don’t worry Natsume. I was a master at hide and seek when I was young. That yokai won’t know I was ever here.” And although he just made that up to ease the tension, it did bring back some color to his pale friend’s face, which Tanuma counted as a win. Now Tanuma has to live up to the name he just gave himself. No pressure: just hide from something he can’t see. No pressure at all.

Their heads whipped around at every little sound, heartbeats in their ears, wide eyes, hands covering their mouths to quiet their breathing. After about 2 minutes of paranoia, Tanuma eventually calmed down. Natsume was still as high-strung as before. Natsume took an extra 3 minutes to begin to relax. After they both calmed down, Tanuma had to ask, “where’s Ponta? I haven’t seen him around. Is he hunting the yokai?”

Natsume jumped at the sudden voice addressing him, “n-no. I told him to go get Natori-san. I don’t want to exorcise this yokai, but if I have to, I’ll need help.” Natsume was glancing over his shoulder to peek out from their hiding place every few seconds. Even a blind man could see how tense Natsume was, he needed to calm down before he exhausted himself.

“Well, I sure hope he didn’t go out drinking instead then, that’d be bad.” It was a poor attempt at a joke, but it earned a quiet chuckle out of Natsume, so Tanuma added that to his slowly growing list of wins.

“Yeah, that’d be bad alright. Let’s hope my good-for-nothing bodyguard can do a good job this one time.” The light was slowly coming back into his eyes from where it had hidden behind the panic.

He opened his mouth to whisper something, probably another weak insult or joke about his useless bodyguard, but it didn’t make it out of his mouth before chaos rained down on the hiding boys. Everything erupted all at once at that moment. After that it all happened so fast. So fast, that Tanuma couldn’t hope to process any of it until after it was all over.

There was a sudden whirlwind of air and fallen leaves, and then the fallen tree they were hiding from was gone. Tossed aside by something Tanuma couldn’t see. What Tanuma _could_ see though, was the dread that materialized on Natsume’s face. He knew just from that look on his face; they had been found. Natsume turned to run, so Tanuma did the same, and then they _ran_. Tanuma ran faster that he had ever run in his life, because while he couldn’t see what was chasing them, he could see the terror on his friend’s face. Not many things can make Natsume look like _that_. He knew, in some far back corner of his mind, that this yokai was just _that dangerous_ and that ‘maybe I should’ve listened to him.’ There was no time to ponder if this was a mistake or not because they were still running. And running. And running.

After what seemed like an eternity, they slowed down. Natsume seemed to have lost sight of the yokai chasing them. His eyes were darting all over the place, either looking for the yokai or a new hiding place, Tanuma wasn’t sure which. Since he couldn’t see the yokai even if he tried, he was just looking for a new place for them to hide. His eyes settled on a large bush that was next to an even larger boulder. That could hide both of them completely.

He turned to point the spot out to Natsume, just in time to see his friend dive in front of him, knocking him back. He heard Natsume shouting at him, “TANUMA! RUN!” As he began to run, he heard sounds that will likely haunt him for the rest of his life. The sound of talons cutting through flesh. The sound of pained screeches, coming from his friend. The sound of a thick viscous liquid spilling onto the dirt. The sound of a body thudding onto the ground. The sound of the talons scraping against the nearby boulder. The sound of gasps choked around blood.

Tanuma was already running. Running away from the shrill screams of pain. Running away from the stench of blood. Tanuma was running. Running away from his friend who needed him. He was running away, like a _coward_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Natori and Nyanko-sensei show up, and Tanuma leads them back to help Natsume.
> 
> Will they be too late though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo its me again!! Back at it again w the angst!
> 
> (there is a fair amount of blood and talk of injuries this chapter, also Tanuma blaming himself, so please be careful if that's a triggering topic for you)

He couldn’t hear the screams anymore. Whether that meant he got out of hearing range, or if the screams had stopped escaping Natsume, he didn’t know. When he stopped, he was by the side of the road at the edge of the forest. He realized that he had abandoned his friend there. That he left Natsume to endure that pain alone. That he didn’t even try to help Natsume. When that finally hit him, guilt overtook any reason he may have had left after that whole experience. He fell to the ground on the side of the road sobbing, deep heart-wrenching sobs. Natsume was going to die out there, all alone, and it was all. His. Fault.

He’d been sobbing for what felt like an eternity when he heard the voice of Natsume’s self-proclaimed bodyguard. “He’s being an idiot. I could just eat this yokai and save us all the trouble. But this stupid kid wants to try and save it. What an idiot. He made me go get you, like I’m his errand boy or something- What are you doing on the ground, useless priest boy?”

Tanuma shot up and saw the fat cat sitting on top of Natori’s shoulders. He’s never been so happy to see that ugly cat. “OH, THANK THE GODS YOU’RE HERE! Please help! Help Natsume! He- he’s hurt really badly! And I can’t see the yokai, so I can’t help him! Please, I’m begging you! Help him!” He was the one verging on hysteria now, not Natsume. Some place in the back of his mind laughed at the irony of that. However, the rest of his mind was warring with emotions of guilt, shame, grief, terror, panic, and just about any other negative emotion there is.

Natori was surprised at this raw display of terror and emotion, and almost missed the reason why the teen was acting this way. Once his brain caught up with the situation he yelled, “what?! He’s hurt!?” Natori wheeled around and questioned Ponta, “I thought you said that Vaara was leaving the humans alone Madara?!”

“Well it was leaving them alone when I left to get you. The stupid boy must’ve made it angry.” Even as Ponta was insulting Natsume, he looked furious at the notion of his boy being hurt. Shortly after he said that, he disappeared from Tanuma’s vision with a huge cloud of smoke, turning into his larger, yokai form.

“Where is he Tanuma-kun?” Natori suddenly asked Tanuma, his usual poker face was replaced with one that conveyed a sense of urgency that he’d never seen on the professional actor’s face before.

“I-I can’t remember exactly; I ran from that direction though.” Tanuma pointed deep into the ominous forest behind him. As soon as he pointed, he felt a large rush of wind blow past him and the exorcist began to shout orders at his shiki that Tanuma couldn’t see.

Once Natori finished, he grabbed Tanuma’s arm, “Let’s go, you’ll need to show me the way since I can’t fly over the trees like that stupid fat cat.” It was a very poor attempt at a joke, and they both knew it. Tanuma appreciated the effort though.

“Okay, it was over this direction. Let’s go.” Tanuma began to run back in the direction of what will become the material for all his nightmares.

As they got closer, Tanuma could feel the wind picking up. He knew from the past that this meant yokai were having an intense fight nearby. On a normal day, he would steer clear of it, but today he took it as a sign that they were almost there, and he sped up. He glanced over at Natori and was alarmed at the face he was making. Since Tanuma could only feel the wind, he forgot that Natori could see and hear what was really happening. It must’ve looked bad, for it to make the skilled actor’s features betray his emotions.

“You wait here. If you come any closer, you’ll get in the way.” There was no room for argument with Natori. Before Tanuma could even agree to stay behind, Natori was gone. He had run right into the middle of the fight.

Tanuma ran to hide behind a nearby tree and chanced a glance at what was happening. He spotted Natsume lying in a pool of his own blood that was too large to be reassuring. He was on the ground near the large boulder, which had large claw marks etched into the side. The blood had begun to soak into the ground, turning it a sickeningly rusty-brown color. Tanuma had to work to keep his lunch down at the sight of his friend. Natsume was lying on his stomach, but his face was angled towards Tanuma. His face was a bloody mess on the left side of his face. The thing that most worried Tanuma was that Natsume wasn’t moving. Someone with those kinds of injuries would be in a severe amount of pain, but Natsume wasn’t showing any indication of any pain at all. Hell, Tanuma couldn’t even tell if Natsume was alive or not. Not from his hiding spot.

Just as he was debating on disobeying Natori’s order to stay away or not, there was a large flash of blinding light, and the fight that Tanuma wasn’t even paying attention to seemed to be over. Natori looked worse for wear, and when Ponta turned back into his cat-form, Tanuma could see that he had quite a few injuries of his own. Neither of them stopped. They both ran over to where Natsume was laying. Tanuma was getting up to run over when Natori called, “hey! Get over here! I need some help.”

Tanuma did not have to be told twice. He was up and running before Natori finished talking. He sprinted across the short distance between them and skidded to his knees next to his friend. “Is he- is he alive?” He asked with apprehension in his voice. Natori nodded, but he was focused on his hands fluttering delicately all over the young boy’s body, checking for where the injuries were, to decide if it was safe to roll him on to his back.

Once Natori decided it wouldn’t make things worse to flip him over, they did it together. And Tanuma once again had to fight to keep his lunch down. It was horrible. The left side of Natsume’s face had been sliced, from his eyebrow down to the middle of his cheek. It was not a shallow cut either, it was deep and ugly. 

Everything was muffled in Tanuma’s ears, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. It was too horrible. He felt Natori touch his shoulder, trying to get his attention, but Tanuma was in shock. Tanuma was getting lost in his head. He was remembering how Natsume had told him it was too dangerous, and to not follow. He was remembering how he ignored those warnings and followed Natsume anyway. He was replaying the screams he heard while running away.

Natori grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, “you need to get a hold of yourself! You can’t help him like this! I need you to put pressure on the wound. I have to call an ambulance; we can only do so much ourselves.” Natori handed him some cloth that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but it was probably just that one of his shiki gave it to him.

It took a second to register what he was supposed to do with the cloth, but once he did, he got right to work putting pressure on the gash on Natsume’s face. Once he applied pressure to the wound, Natsume moaned in pain. He was still unconscious, but he wasn’t dead. And that was enough for Tanuma right now.

While Tanuma was doing that, Natori walked a little bit away without straying too far and called 119. He said that he needed an ambulance and told the Operator where they were at. He started to describe the situation to her after that. He said Natsume was unresponsive, and bleeding from a head wound so she could relay that to the paramedics on the way. Once he got off the phone with her, he came back over to where Tanuma and Natsume were.

Tanuma was keeping pressure on the wound using the cloth that Natori gave him, but the blood had already soaked through the cloth. It wasn’t doing much to hold back the blood anymore. “Shit, there’s too much blood.” Tanuma exclaimed as he took off his shirt and ripped it up to make another compress. He knew it wasn’t the cleanest thing, but they didn’t have anything else with them.

After a few minutes, that felt like an eternity since Natsume’s life was on the line, they heard sirens from an ambulance in the distance. The paramedics wouldn’t be able to find them in the forest on their own, one of them needed to bring them here. “I’ll get them, you stay here Tanuma-kun.” Natori informed Tanuma as he stood up to go, “keep pressure on it the whole time.” He ran off, leaving Tanuma there with Natsume and Ponta.

Time began to catch up to Tanuma as he sat there alone with Natsume. He began to fully process what had actually just happened. Had it really only been fifteen minutes since they had run out of their first hiding place under the fallen tree? Had it really only taken fifteen minutes for Tanuma’s life to get flipped upside-down? His thoughts began to spiral yet again, “what if his wound gets infected because Tanuma used his shirt? What if he hit his head when he fell? What if he has brain damage? What if Natsume dies?”

Ponta jumped up and smacked Tanuma’s head, “shut up stupid! He’s too much of a stubborn idiot to die here. Besides, if he died, I couldn’t eat Touko’s fried tempura anymore. He’s not allowed to die here.” Tanuma hadn’t even realized he was talking out loud. Ponta was worried about Natsume, Tanuma could tell. He was pacing all around, sniffing the air.

That caused a thought to spark in Tanuma’s head, “did you kill it? The yokai that did this?” He thought that the fight had ended when there was that bright flash. Ponta was acting as if it were able to come back at any moment. So maybe it had escaped.

Ponta’s fur stood up at the question, “no. It ran away at the last second, like a coward.” Tanuma tensed at the phrasing. He was a coward too, wasn’t he? He was just as bad as that horrible yokai that did this to his friend. He was the same, because he ran away too. He let this happen. He didn’t try to stop it; he didn’t try to rescue Natsume at all.

His self-deprecative train of thought was cut off by a low moan below him. It was from Natsume! “Are you okay Natsume?!” another groan was all that he got as an answer. Natsume started to try and sit up, but Tanuma pushed his shoulders back down, “don’t move, the paramedics are almost here!”

“—ma—” Natsume was trying to say something, but it was barely audible.

“What? I can’t hear what you said.” Tanuma was overjoyed that Natsume was awake enough to try and talk. He wasn’t dead, not yet anyways. He might be soon if the paramedics take much longer to arrive.

“—ma, get away, not safe.” It wasn’t much louder that time, but Tanuma caught more because he was listening harder for it. Natsume opened his mouth to try and say more but ended up going into a coughing fit instead. It was violent and forceful; his whole body was getting jerked around by each cough. Once he finally stopped coughing, he slumped back down onto the ground. He was starting to drift off. Tanuma could only pray that he was going unconscious, and not dying.

Tanuma was starting to get worried again, where was Natori and the paramedics? They need to get here soon, Natsume wasn’t doing well. Blood was starting to soak through the t-shirt compress, and Tanuma didn’t have anything else to make one with. He was debating sending Ponta to go find them, when he finally heard them coming through the forest. He sighed inwardly, relieved that this was almost over.

Tanuma could hear Natori talking to the paramedics, “he’s over here, just past these trees. Please hurry, he wasn’t doing too good when I left.” Once they entered the clearing, Natori addressed Tanuma, “I’ve brought the paramedics, how is he? Any changes?” Tanuma could see the stress radiating off of Natori. It must’ve been hard for Natori to leave Natsume’s side to get the paramedics, but it had to be done.

“He woke up for a moment and tried to talk,” Tanuma saw hope start to bleed into Natori’s face, “but he ended up in a coughing fit and passed out again.” Natori’s face fell. Tanuma couldn’t blame him. The whole situation was really hopeless. Their only hope is getting him to a hospital. Which could happen very soon if they worked fast.

The paramedics asked them both to step aside and got right to work placing Natsume on a stretcher to carry him through the forest. Since the gurney wouldn’t roll well here and could jostle him and make his injuries worse. They worked with reassuring speed and were off towards the ambulance in less than two minutes.

Natori was feeding the paramedics a whole story of lies to explain Natsume’s injuries. Since the truth wasn’t believable. Tanuma was trailing a little bit behind the adults carrying Ponta in his arms. He wasn’t really listening to the conversation that was happening in front of him. His eyes were on Natsume. He was watching how one of the paramedics kept checking his pulse periodically. He saw when Natsume’s head lolled to the side as they walked quickly to the ambulance. He was watching the rise and fall of his chest as he continued to breathe.

When they finally reached the ambulance, which had parked on the side of the road near the edge of the forest, the paramedics worked quickly to transfer Natsume onto the gurney and into the truck. They were closing the doors and all Tanuma could do was watch. He wasn’t allowed to go with them to the hospital, both because he wasn’t Natusme’s guardian and because he wasn’t an adult. Natori went with them in the ambulance, because even though he wasn’t Natusme’s guardian, he was the only adult there.

All Tanuma could do was hold onto Ponta and watch them drive off, with his friend in the back of the ambulance, injured because of him. He stood there on the side of the road, thinking about what to do with himself now. The only real options he could think of were to: stay here (he didn’t think that was a good idea, considering that the yokai was probably still around here somewhere), go home, or go to Natsume’s house and tell the Fujiwara’s what happened. The decision was made for him since he needed to take Ponta back to Natsume’s house, his father wouldn’t like the pig-looking cat at their temple. So, he set off in the direction of Natusme’s house, the pig-cat heavy in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next week for the next chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tanuma makes his way to the Fujiwara's house, and gets some answers along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i totally didnt almost forget to post todays ch. nope. no way. (._.`)
> 
> anyways this ch is a shorter one, kind of an explanation chapter. i hope u understand whats going on better now if u were confused b4.

Tanuma figured that on the way to Natsume’s house would be as good a time as any to try and get some information out of Ponta. “What happened out there Ponta? Was the yokai really so dangerous that Natsume had to send you to get Natori? How come it got away? It didn’t curse him or anything right? Oh gods, I hadn’t thought about that! It didn’t though, right? Right Ponta?” The questions spilled out of Tanuma’s mouth almost faster than he thought of them.

“Shut up stupid kid, I can’t answer your stupid questions if you never give me enough time to even speak. Stupid kid.” Ponta growled back at him. He took a deep breath and began to explain what he knew, “I don’t know why Vaara was attacking him, it was leaving the humans alone before I left. Stupid kid must’ve done something to make it made.” Ponta muttered that last part under his breath. If Tanuma didn’t know better, he’d think that Ponta was furious at Natsume, but he did know better so Tanuma could tell that Ponta was actually concerned.

“Vaara? Is that the yokai’s name? Why is it such a dangerous one?” Tanuma only had more questions once he got a few answers.

Ponta huffed at all the questions, “Well if you give me time to explain, I will.” At that Tanuma shut his mouth and waited expectantly. “Vaara is an ancient yokai, more so than even I. As much as I hate to say it, it’s also stronger than me. Which is why I told that stupid kid to not mess with it. It would leave here soon enough; it never stays in one place. A nomad, if you were to put it into human terms.”

“That explains why it only became an issue now,” Tanuma was finally getting answers, but he still had more questions. “How is it such a dangerous yokai? You said it was strong, how so?” He pestered Ponta for more answers.

“It is a very ancient yokai, which means it does not care for the lives of mere humans, or anything really.” Ponta scoffed as he said that part. “It only cares for itself, a selfish prick, that Vaara. It destroys anything that offends it. That’s probably what happened, I bet that fool Natsume tried to reason with it to leave Yatsuhara at some point and accidentally offended it after I left to get Natori.” Tanuma could hear the underlying worry in the prickly yokai’s voice. “But,” Tanuma tensed, “the reason that Vaara is so dangerous is that it has something coating the talons on its feet, it steals yokai’s power. That’s what makes it dangerous for yokai, and likely the reason that Natsume went and asked it to leave.”

Tanuma grew concerned, “what will it do to Natsume? He’s not a yokai, but his face got slashed by Vaara’s talons.” He felt Ponta tense up as he said that. His heart dropped, surely it wouldn’t kill Natsume, right? Natsume wasn’t a yokai, he didn’t have any power to steal. Right?

“I honestly don’t know what it does to humans. I don’t think Vaara has ever attacked humans before now. Natsume must’ve really offended it for it to attack him like that.” Ponta trailed off, but it sounded like there was more to that story. Unfortunately, Tanuma noticed that they were running out of time as they turned onto the road that was near the Fujiwara’s house.

As they grew closer, Tanuma could feel his thoughts starting to spiral again. What was he even gonna say to them? He hadn’t thought that far yet. Telling them that he was attacked by yokai was definitely off the table though. As he was almost 100% certain that the old couple had no idea that Natsume could even see them, let alone that they hurt him all the time.

He suddenly wished he had been listening to the story that Natori fabricated for the paramedics, that way he could just repeat that without having to worry about any discrepancies. Oh, he hadn’t thought about that yet! What if he says something and then the Fujiwara’s hear something else from the hospital staff and think he’s lying! They might make him stay away from Natsume! He doesn’t want that!

He didn’t realize he was squeezing Ponta until he wiggled out of Tanuma’s arms. “Fix your face. He’s not dead you buffoon.” Ponta grumbled at him after he landed on the ground. “All you have to do is tell them that he’s hurt and in the hospital. You don’t need to say anything more than that. Otherwise you’ll screw it up and say something you shouldn’t.” It was a very rough way to say it, but Tanuma was sure that saying that was the fat cat’s attempt at making him calm down.

Tanuma’s heart felt a little lighter after Ponta’s strange version of a pep talk, that is, until he saw the familiar small stone wall, outlining their property. Then his heart plummeted again. The realization that he was actually going to have to look them in the _face_ , and tell them that Natsume’s hurt. He slowed to a snail’s pace as he got even closer. Ponta ran ahead since he was free from the human boy’s arms, and Tanuma realized too late that Ponta was going to alert the lovely old couple that someone was home. Only they thought it would be Natsume, not his friend bearing bad news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope that cleared a few things up.  
> see u next week when i post the next ch!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fujiwara's learn about what happened, and decide to take action. They depart for the hospital and grill Tanuma along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is this week's ch!!! Hope you enjoy ~\\(≧▽≦)/~

As he came near the entrance, he heard Touko exclaim brightly, “ah, Nyankichi! Welcome back, where’s Takashi?” Tanuma could hear her talking to the ‘cat’ as if it could respond with an answer. She catches his eye, “oh! Tanuma-kun, so nice to see you again! You should come over more often.” He sees her take a glance around, her face growing concerned when she can’t find Natsume anywhere. Tanuma knew that she could tell something was wrong. “Where’s Takashi?” Her mom senses must be going wild at the moment, because she puts down the basket of laundry she was holding, and comes over and drags Tanuma inside, calling for Shigeru to come to the kitchen.

Once all three of them are seated in the kitchen, Tanuma is shaking like a leaf. He can’t get his mouth to formulate the words he needs to say anything. He keeps opening and closing his mouth, trying to say something, but he just can’t make words. He can tell that he needs to say _something_ though, the Fujiwara’s look extremely distressed, and it’s only growing as he can’t find his words. “He-” He could only force out that one small word before he got choked up. Touko offered him a glass of water, which he gratefully accepted.

The Fujiwara’s shared a look, and to Tanuma it seemed like they had a whole conversation without saying a word. Touko spoke up, “Would it be easier for you if we just asked you questions, and you answered?” Tanuma nodded shakily. “alright, is Takashi hurt?” another nod, followed by a small gasp, “is he safe?”

Tanuma decided that he needed to answer that question with words, a nod wouldn’t suffice, so he swallowed his fear and spoke, “he should be. He’s actually on his way to the hospital, in an ambulance with Natori-san.” Touko gasped and covered her mouth.

“Which hospital?” Shigeru spoke up so suddenly, Tanuma had almost forgotten that he was even there. Touko had done most of the talking after all.

“Kuma Hospital.” Tanuma replied, knowing that Shigeru was already thinking about how to get there as fast as possible. “Can I come with you? Please I- I need to know if he’s okay.” Tanuma pleaded with them.

“Of course you can come,” Touko spoke up again, “But I want you to fill us in more on the way.” She framed it in a way that made it clear there was no escaping explaining this time. He only got out of it the first time because he had barely managed to convey the urgency of getting to the hospital as soon as possible that there was no time to waste. He resigned himself to his fate and followed the couple over to their neighbor’s house to ask to borrow their car. Of course, once the neighbors heard the situation, they were more than willing to loan their car away for as long as it was needed.

Shigeru got in the driver’s seat, while Tanuma and Touko got into the back of the car. As they began to drive, Tanuma could tell that both of the Fujiwara’s were waiting on him to begin explaining, even if it wasn’t outwardly obvious. The atmosphere was heavy with dread. After a few minutes, the silence was too much for him so he began to think of an explanation that he hoped wouldn’t conflict with Natori’s.

Tanuma wasn’t sure what he could tell them, after all the Fujiwara’s didn’t know anything at all about Natsume’s ability to see yokai. So he decided to go with a very watered-down version of the story and not mention anything yokai related at all. So, taking a deep breath, he started with “well,” Tanuma noticed that now he had both of their undivided attention, Touko-san had even turned her head to look at him. “I’m not sure what exactly happened near the end, all I know for sure is that we were walking home with Nishimura and Kitamoto when Natsume realized he forgot something back at school. So I went with him to grab it really quick, and we took a shortcut back to school through the forest.” He prayed that the Fujiwara’s were not as knowledgeable about the forest as their charge was. If they were, they would realize that the forest wasn’t a shortcut at all, in fact it was in the opposite direction.

Tanuma took another deep breath to steady himself before continuing, “but that’s where it gets kinda hard to explain. Because I didn’t exactly see what happened next. We were just walking along the path, when Natsume tripped and fell. We just happened to be walking past a ledge so when he fell, he tumbled over the edge instead of just landing on the ground.” Tanuma knew that this was a weak lie because that kind of thing wouldn’t cause the injury that Natsume has now. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come up with a better explanation. The Fujiwara’s haven’t seen Natsume yet anyways, so they don’t know what the wound looks like. Maybe they won’t call him out on it later.

He could tell that the Fujiwara’s were waiting for him to continue, and there was still a long way to go until they reached the hospital that Natsume was taken to. So he braced himself and began to speak again. “As soon as he stopped falling I started to climb down after him. When I got down there, I called out to him while I ran over. But h-he wasn’t responding.” Tanuma was starting to lose himself in his own head, remembering what actually happened. “Once I got over to him, I could see that he landed on his face. And there was some blood coming out from under his face.” He could hear the sharp intake of breath from both adults in the car.

“He was bleeding? How much? From where?” Touko started bombarding him with questions. ‘I wonder if this is how Ponta felt earlier’ Tanuma thought while trying to come up with answers for all her questions.

“He was bleeding quite a bit, but I don’t think it was life threatening. It was coming from a wound on his face that I found after I rolled him over. I’m not sure how it got there, I think he probably scraped his face on a rock or something while he fell.” He hoped this also made his fake story more believable for when they saw the injury. Tanuma hates having to lie to the Fujiwara’s, and now he thinks he can understand a little bit more why Natsume won’t tell them anything about yokai.

“I really had no idea what to do. He may be light, but I couldn’t carry him. So I made sure he was stable before running to get help. I know that was a bad idea looking back, but I just had no idea what to do.” Tanuma wasn’t exactly sure where he was going with this story anymore. He was making mistakes; plot holes were forming. He would never _ever_ leave an injured person alone like that. He decides he needs to wrap this up fast or else he’ll say something that he shouldn’t just like Ponta said.

“Luckily, I didn’t have to run very far, Natori-san was passing by and I ran into him on a nearby path. And he called an ambulance to come get Natsume, and then he went with them in the ambulance because he was the only adult. And that’s when I came to tell you.” He really hoped they wouldn’t ask any more questions because he really didn’t know how to answer them.

Thankfully, they only had one question left, “was he unconscious?” And that was a question that he could answer.

“Yeah, he was knocked out from his fall, he woke up once, but he quickly knocked himself out again when he coughed really hard.” He replied to the question. He could tell that they didn’t like the sound of that at all. Touko-san turned back around in her seat, facing the front, signaling the end of that conversation.

The rest of the ride to the hospital was spent in silence, but Tanuma was sure that all three of them were wishing they could just teleport there immediately. The road was gradually getting more crowded as they got closer to the city, closer to the hospital. Closer to Natsume. Tanuma’s leg started bouncing, unintentionally jostling Ponta. He got a glare from the sad excuse for a cat and tried to calm himself.

While he was willing himself to settle down, he remembered that Ponta seemed a little worse for wear after the fight with Vaara. He looked down to see if he could spot any injuries without having to ask Ponta, because the Fujiwara’s don’t know that Ponta can actually talk. The useless bodyguard can at least take care of himself, he’s on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another shorter one this week,, sorry lol 
> 
> Natori comes back next ch! only for a lil bit tho lol


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fujiwara's arrive at the hospital with Tanuma and Nyanko in tow. They meet Natori and get an update on Natsume's condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please check the end notes for an important update (•_•)

When they finally reach Kuma Hospital, Shigeru lets Tanuma and Touko out before going to find a parking space. They both rush into the building, Touko goes over to the front desk while Tanuma scans the room in hopes of seeing Natori around. He sees him standing over on the other side of the room and rushes over to see if he could get any updates about Natsume from him. “Natori-san! Natori-san, how is he? Is he okay?” Natori turned around when he heard his name.

“Tanuma, I don’t know what to tell you.” Natori looked dejected as he said that, “I haven’t heard much about his condition myself. Since I’m not his registered guardian they won’t let me see him or tell me anything about his condition. They took him away soon after we reached the hospital. I don’t know anything after that.”

Tanuma didn’t like not knowing, but he knew Natori must be feeling terrible about not knowing anything too. So he didn’t push him any further. They stood there in a tense silence, when Touko came over after finishing up with the front desk, “You must be Natori-san? Tanuma told us that you rode in the ambulance with our Takashi, thank you for helping. Do you know anything about his state right now? The woman at the desk said he couldn’t have visitors at the moment as the doctors are working on him.”

“Hello, you must be Fujiwara-san, Natsume talks about you a lot. I wish we’d gotten to meet under better circumstances.” Natori had his actor façade on, Tanuma could tell even though he’d only met the man once prior to today. “To answer your question though, since I’m not his guardian they wouldn’t tell me anything on his condition. I did however hear the paramedics talking about it while we rode here in the ambulance. He has a gash on the left side of his face stretching from his eyebrow down to the middle of his left cheek, that much I saw for myself. They said it didn’t seem too deep, but his eye may be injured. It’s too soon to tell the extent of the damage from what I heard. They mostly just tried to clean up the wound on the way here. Unfortunately, that’s all I was able to glean from the paramedics.”

Touko had her hands over her mouth, she didn’t like how this sounded. Though to be fair, Tanuma didn’t like any of this either. He turned to her, “Touko-san, I’m so sorry.” He knew that apologizing didn’t mean anything, especially to someone who didn’t know what actually happened. His guilt was just about crushing him at this point. Would Natsume be okay if Tanuma hadn’t ran away from him? What if Tanuma had listened to him when he said it was too dangerous, and not stubbornly followed him? It could’ve turned out so differently if _he’d only just done something differently_.

He felt a hand lightly land on his shoulder, jarring him out of his thoughts, “it’s not your fault Tanuma-kun, there’s no way it could be your fault. You have nothing to apologize for.” Touko told him it wasn’t his fault, but she didn’t know what really happened, it _was_ really all his fault. Her words did little to ease his conscience. He quietly thanked her anyways. She gave him a strained smile in return.

After a few minutes of more tense silence, after the group of three had found somewhere to sit, Shigeru came into the waiting room. As he was walking over to the group, a nurse came and called, “guardians of Natsume Takashi?” Touko scrambled out of her seat over to her while Shigeru turned around, both reaching the nurse at around the same time. When the nurse noticed them she asked, “are you the guardians of Natsume Takashi?” after receiving vigorous nods from both of them she continued on, “Natsume is unconscious at the moment, but he is stable enough to have visitors, would you like to see him? He may have up to 3 visitors in the room at one time, as there needs to be room for a nurse or doctor to come in, in case of any developments. Would you like to see him?”

“Yes please!” Both Touko and Shigeru shouted almost in perfect unison. They turned to Natori and Tanuma, who had followed the couple over to the nurse as well. “Only one other person can come in to see him along with us at a time. Which one of you would like to come in first?” Touko addressed the question to both of them. Tanuma wasn’t sure what to say, did he have the right to see Natsume after all this? Should he let Natori see him first?

Surprisingly Natori spoke first, “I’ll pass, I need to head back, and now I know he’s out of danger and in good hands. That’s enough for me for now, I do hope that you’ll let me come visit him once he is discharged though?”

“Of course you can, you can visit whenever you like. We owe you so much more than you know. You helped save our Takashi today, I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that Natori-san.” Touko said that with such appreciation in her voice that it’d be hard to _not_ see how grateful she is, but knowing her, it’s much more than saving Natsume’s life today that she’s grateful for. She directs her attention to Tanuma after Natori walks off, “I guess that means you will come in? Only if you want to of course, no one is forcing you Tanuma-kun.”

Tanuma really wants to confirm with his own eyes that Natsume is alive and well. Well, as ‘well’ as he can be at least. “Yes I’ll come along, if that’s okay?” He says it with some apprehension because he really doesn’t know if that would be okay or not. Because even if the Fujiwaras don’t think it’s his fault, it really is.

This time, Shigeru spoke up, Tanuma wasn’t expecting that. “Of course you can Tanuma. I’m sure he’ll like having a friend there when he wakes up.” Tanuma hadn’t thought about it like that.

“Oh, what should I do with Ponta?” He asks because he honestly forgot that he was here, with how unsettlingly quiet and well behaved he is being.

“Ah, Nyankichi! I suppose that pets aren’t allowed, right?” Touko asked the nurse, getting a head shake for an answer. “Well, he’s a smart cat, I’m sure he won’t cause any trouble if you just put him outside Tanuma-kun.” She ushered Tanuma over to the door as she spoke, gesturing to a spot outside.

Tanuma walked outside the hospital doors and placed the fat cat on the ground. “What are you gonna do Ponta?” The ravenette questioned Ponta. “You’re gonna leave right?”

“Hmph! Might as well.” He answered with what could only be described as an eyeroll, “I hate stupid human hospitals.”

“Ok then, rude." Tanuma was cut off with a cloud of smoke, and Ponta was gone. “Well okay then.” He said to himself. There’s no point in trying to talk to Ponta if he wasn’t visible. The stupid bodyguard was hard enough to talk to when he was visible.

Tanuma went back into the hospital waiting room. He walked over to the Fujiwara’s where Touko was asking the nurse a bunch of questions. “- and he passed out? How many times? Does he have a fever? How big is the wound on his face? How deep?” Tanuma watched as Touko grilled the nurse. It was almost funny; except he could see the concern and worry etched into all of the older woman’s features.

“Sorry it took so long, I’m back now.” Tanuma spoke up watching the nurse start to get frustrated by all the questions.

“Well then, if you’re done, we can go ahead and go to his room then.” The nurse said in a clipped tone. She turned on her heel, the Fujiwara’s and Tanuma were eager to follow her down the corridor. There were many twists and turns on the path towards the room. After what felt like hours (but was really only a minute or two) they reached a room labeled ‘Natsume Takashi’. The nurse opened the door and went in first, “alright, he’s unconscious right now, but he could wake up at any time. He needed stitches for the wound on his face. Along with a few cracked ribs, those were the only major concerns. He had a few shallow scraps along his arms and legs, but nothing too bad there. The doctors aren’t sure at the moment what the extent of damage to his eye is, or if there is any at all. We’ll have to wait for him to wake up to be able to tell.” The nurse finished her spiel on Natsume’s condition, and went quiet for a moment before saying, “I’ll leave you three alone now, if he wakes up or anything happens, press the call button.” With that she left the group in the sleeping boy’s hospital room.

They all stood there, around his bed, listening to his heartbeat through the monitor. Steady. _That’s reassuring at least_ Tanuma thought to himself as he watched the slow rise and fall of Natsume’s chest as he breathed. Here in the quiet hospital room, with Natsume laying in the bed with pristine hospital sheets, Tanuma can really see how pale Natsume was. If that was because he was naturally as pale as a ghost, or if he really lost that much blood. Unfortunately, the latter option seemed more likely.

“One day,” Touko spoke suddenly after a long moment of silence, startling Tanuma. “One day I won’t find him in a hospital bed like this.” She had a certain tone that made Tanuma think that she had been in this exact situation before.

He was debating on asking about it, when Shigeru seemed to read his mind and started to talk about it unprompted. “He fell off a cliff last time too. No one knows what he was doing up there in the first place. This was right before he came to live with us. We came to get him from the hospital, just like this one.” He was smiling at the bittersweet memory. “Hopefully he isn’t planning on making falling off cliffs a habit.” The attempt at lightening the mood was successful, but only for a few moments.

Tanuma wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. Both of the Fujiwaras were at Natsume’s bedside, Touko was holding his limp hand in between her hands. He settled on standing near the end of the bed. Now all he could do was wait patiently until his injured friend awoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so how r yall liking my story so far? please tell me ur thoughts in the comments (*/ω＼*)
> 
> also,,,,,, i hate to say it but i might not be able to update next week,,,,, ik this is a hell of a cliffhanger to leave u on and im so sorry for that  
> the original plan for this fic was that i would write the whole thing b4 i started posting any of it. but i got too excited to get my story out there... and i only have 5 chs done already... which means i have yet to write anymore...  
> and if im being truly honest, ch 6 probably wont be done by next friday, bc of how i work. (its either manic spurts of 2k words in 1 sitting, or i cant write a single thing for 3 months)
> 
> FIFTEEN MINUTES IS NOT GOING ON HAITUS (at least i hope not)
> 
> imma try rlly hard to get ch 6 done in time, im just letting yall know jic


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsume is awake, let's learn more about how he's doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAHH IM A LITTLE BIT LATE SORRY（；´д｀）ゞ
> 
> (lowkey i dont like how this ch turned out, it was hard to write and im having a hard time remembering parts i have already written (；′⌒`) so i have to reread it a bunch)
> 
> PS i edited last ch a tiny bit so that nyanko-sensei DIDNT go back into the hospital with tanuma (bc my dumbass wrote an entire ch w the assumption that he HAD stayed outside b4 i realized he didnt) u dont have to reread last ch, im just letting u know i changed that bit.

Touko was the first to notice when he started to wake up, his hand twitched in her grasp. “Takashi-kun! Are you awake?” Touko alerted the others in the room to his waking state. Natsume moaned quietly and his face scrunched up at her volume. “Oh I’m sorry, I’ll keep it down honey.” She chuckled a little at that, but you could see the concern etched all over her face.

Both Tanuma and Shigeru rushed over to the bedridden boy’s side. The elder spoke first, “Takashi-kun, how are you feeling? Are you in any pain?” Everyone held their breath as they watch Natsume process the question. It took a moment of two before his eyes lit up in understanding and recognition.

Once Natsume began to speak though Tanuma doubted that the blonde actually understood the question, because instead of answering he started asking questions instead of answering them. “What happened? Did Tanuma tell you? Is he okay?” Tanuma was glad that speaking didn’t seem to cause the boy pain. The darker haired boy was concerned about there maybe being cracked or even broken during the fight (if it could even be called that, it was probably closer to a beating than a fight).

Touko’s face fell a small bit, it was barely noticeable and if you weren’t looking you wouldn’t have seen it. “Tanuma-kun came and told us that you had fallen off a cliff, he’s fine, but I’m more worried about you right now. How are you feeling?” She asked him in a soft voice as she took his hand back into hers from where it had dropped onto the bed.

“I’m fine.” Natsume didn’t seem too confident in that answer. He glanced at Touko after he responded, and seeing her disbelieving stare he amended his statement. “Okay fine, my head is a little foggy and I’m tired,” he surrendered that as his new answer, receiving a sigh from the older woman.

“The nurse that led us here told us about your injuries. So I’m surprised you’re not in pain, maybe it’s the pain killers.” She mused the last part more to herself than to him. “Do you remember what happened?”

Tanuma saw Natsume stiffen the tiniest bit. “Um, no not really,” his voice was small as he looked around the room before he finally noticed both Shigeru and Tanuma. He lifted his hand in a small wave at Tanuma with his free hand, before apologizing to Shigeru for the trouble.

The older man chuckled, “it’s no trouble at all Takashi-kun. I’m glad to see that you are ok.” A mischievous glint appeared in Shigeru’s eyes before he said in a joking tone, “though I really hope we aren’t planning on making falling off cliffs a routine now.” Natsume seemed to piece together a bit of the cover story Tanuma had used with that comment and relaxed a bit as he blushed in embarrassment.

Tanuma decided that he should try to subtly let Natsume in on the rest of the cover story. Clearing his throat he began, “I hadn’t known you had a habit of that, otherwise I would’ve had us take a different path through the forest to get back to school.” That should be enough to make up a convincingly similar story without outright repeating everything. Natsume hummed in response, a sign that now he understood the lie.

“What kind of injuries do I have? I can’t feel anything in pain,” Natsume asked.

Touko was the one who answered, being the most talkative of the three visitors. “There were a few cracked ribs from your tumble, as well as a cut along the left side of your face. Which I’m honestly surprised that you can’t feel that one, must be the pain killers.” She said the last bit more to herself than anything. “Along with the small scratches all over your arms and legs which didn’t need too much medical care, unlike the wound on your face. That one needed stitches.” Shigeru put a hand on her shoulder which cut off her rambling.

“Oh,” was all that Natsume had to say in response. He looked over his arms, seeing all the band aids on his arms, his free hand came up to feel his face and he felt the bandage over a majority of the left side of his face. Tanuma wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed that beforehand. It’s not like he can open that eye, so surely he should’ve noticed right away when he couldn’t. The shock was evident on the bedridden boy’s face.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, and both Tanuma and Shigeru returned to their seats (if someone saw them scoot their chairs closer to the bed though, they wouldn’t judge). Suddenly Touko jumped, “ah! We were supposed to notify someone that you woke up!” She stood up and waved her hand beckoning Shigeru to come with her, “come on, we should tell them and see if we can get any information like when he’ll be released.”

Both Fujiwara’s rose and left the room with a quiet ‘be right back boys’ and then they were left alone in silence.

The silence was becoming overwhelming, Tanuma needed to apologize for running away. For being useless when it really counted. Opening his mouth, he began with “I’m sorry.”

Natsume startled at the sudden volume, “for what?” He seemed genuinely confused.

The ravenette’s jaw dropped a little bit, does he really not know why? “For leaving you there, for not listening when you told me not to come, for not being good enough-” he cut himself off because he was starting to ramble. “I made it worse,” he mumbled thickly while looking at his hands fumbling in his lap. His throat was closing on him. The urge to cry was strong, but it wasn’t his place. Natsume was the one who got hurt not him. He didn’t have the right.

There was a few beats of silence before Natsume sighed, “it’s not your fault Tanuma. I should’ve tried harder to make you stay away.” Tanuma could hear the sheets rustling, why was Natsume moving around? That’s not good for his wounds. A pale hand landed onto his fumbling hands, making him jump a little. “Don’t cry Tanuma. It’s not your fault.”

“I’m not crying, you’re the one who should be crying. You’re hurt.” Tanuma denied the statement. A warm hand raised up and wiped the tears that were flowing steadily down Tanuma’s cheeks.

“I was scared you weren’t gonna make it because there was so much blood. I was so _scared_ Natsume. It’s my fault I shouldn’t have left you there. If I had stayed maybe I could have done something.” Tanuma brought one of his hands up to rest over Natsume’s hand, and focused on the warmth he felt. He’s here, he’s _alive_.

“There was nothing you could do Tanuma, you can’t even see yokai.” His tone was joking, but his words were heavy with meaning. Tanuma knew that Natsume didn’t blame him. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t his fault though. He accepted that this wasn’t really the time to talk about his near crippling guilt.

Deciding that a change of subject was needed, Tanuma started to talk about what he heard from Ponta. “Your _bodyguard_ ,” the sarcasm ran thick through his words, “wasn’t allowed to come in with me, but he explained some things to me. Like the yokai that attacked you usually doesn’t bother attacking humans. Did you do something to offend it?”

Natsume huffed out a laugh, “well, I guess they didn’t take to kindly to me telling them to leave.”

“Why did they have to leave?” Tanuma was puzzled. He knew Natsume had a lot of yokai friends in the area. Was Vaara not one of them?

“That’s kinda tough to explain, you know that Vaara is really strong right? Did Nyanko-sensei tell you that?” After Tanuma’s nod of confirmation he continued, “well, they are _too_ powerful for a lot of the yokai in Yatsuhara to be around. Not to mention the danger that the talons possess.” Natsume trailed off and brought his hand back to his face. “Did Sensei also tell you about the talons?”

“He told me that there’s some stuff on them that steals other yokai’s powers.” Tanuma said, although he probably could’ve explained it better. Whatever, Ponta wasn’t exactly the best at explaining things either.

“Yeah…” Natsume drooped a little bit. This alarmed Tanuma, was he hurting again?

“What’s wrong?” The nervous boy raised his hands as if that could help.

“I just- I don’t know what that will do to _me_. I’m not a yokai. I’m a human.” Natsume’s hand dropped to join the other one in his lap. “Where is Nyanko-sensei?”

“I had to leave him outside, but I’m sure he could sneak in somehow if we need him.” Tanuma stood up in case Natsume told him to get Ponta. “Do you want me to get him?”

“No, not right now. I’ll probably be released from the hospital tonight so it’s fine.” Natsume waved off the offer easily.

The two boys sat in silence for a few more minutes before the Fujiwaras returned with a doctor in tow. The doctor spoke first, “I’m glad to see you’re awake and feeling fine Natsume-kun. I’m Doctor Kambe Daisuke, I want to see how your stiches have been holding up. I also need to check for any damage to your left eye now that you’re awake.” He walked to the edge of the bed, “so let’s get these bandages off!”

As the doctor removed the bandage over Natsume’s face, Tanuma saw the damage that had been done by the talons. The cut was long, and it looked deep too. He really hoped it didn’t scar. Natsume’s left eye flutter open to join the other one. Only, they didn’t quite match anymore. The left eye was cloudy, the usual brightness of Natsume’s eyes was gone.

The doctor frowned, “can you see anything if I cover your right eye?” The man brought up his hand and did just that.

Natsume blinked a few times and squinted. “Not really… I see the lights, I think?” He seemed scared. His normal ‘I’m fine’ mask was forgotten when he realized how _not fine_ he was. “You took off all the bandages right? There aren’t any still on right?” His hands flew to his face to see, but the doctor caught them before he accidentally poked his eye out.

Touko’s hands flew to her face with a sharp gasp. Shigeru stood behind her, holding her upright since she seemed ready to faint. She turned to bury her face in his shoulder.

Natsume started to panic. “Touko-san! I’m sorry! I- it’ll heal! I- I’m sorry. Ah! Shigeru-san, I- uh!” He was flailing, unsure of what to do. A sob echoed through the room, Tanuma’s head whipped up at the sound. Natsume was _crying_. Pale hands flew to his mouth to stifle the sobs, but it was too late everyone had already heard him. Touko left her husband’s embrace and scurried over to the boy who seemed so small in the hospital bed.

“No no no Takashi-kun, I’m not mad at you. How-” her voice caught in her throat, “how could I ever be mad at your for this. I’m upset that you’re hurt, but I’m not _mad_. Just worried,” a wet chuckle escaped her, “you know how I worry.” She wrapped her arms around her charge, the doctor had stepped aside to let her past. Tanuma watched as she ran a hand through Natsume’s hair while she held him.

Natsume’s hands came up and grasped at the back of her shirt. He cried into her shoulder; it was still quiet even though he was no longer muffling himself.

Shigeru walked over to place a hand on the shaking boy’s back, rubbing up and down in a soothing manner.

Tanuma didn’t think he had a right to be here for such an intimate moment. He was awkwardly standing there, reeling from the information that his best friend couldn’t see with his left eye. Could he not see anything? He had said that he saw light though. Maybe the doctor will explain more. Tanuma glanced over at the man, who was also awkwardly standing off to the side. The doctor looked up and made eye contact with Tanuma, eyes full of sorrow.

Doctor Kambe cleared his throat, and after seeing he had the entire room’s full attention he spoke, “there are some tests we can do to see if this blindness is temporary, and how much he is able to see. Thankfully, his right eye is completely fine. So even if his left one can’t see anything, he won’t be completely in the dark. Though there will be problems with depth perception. But physical therapy can teach him how to maneuver around without that being much of a problem. We were going to clear him for release tonight if hie eye wasn’t hurt, but since it is, we want to keep him for one or two more days in order to preform those tests.”

Touko agreed that the tests should be performed as soon as possible, and Shigeru asked the doctor what the physical therapy would entail. After a few short explanations, the PA chimed and announced that visiting hours would be ending in thirty minutes. Since the Fujiwaras were Natsume’s legal guardians they were allowed to spend the night, but Tanuma had to leave.

“Tanuma-kun, you need a ride back to town right?” Shigeru said to him.

“Oh, no I can take the train. I’ve caused enough trouble for you guys today. Thank you for letting me see him. I’m sorry that I let this happen.” Tanuma was still in shock from all the things that had happened today. He would need to sit down and process everything later tonight.

Tanuma stumbled out of the room, having said goodbye to Natsume and once again confirming that yes, he is alive. He’s not bleeding out in the forest anymore. He’s not fine, by any stretch of the word, but he’s alive.

On his way out of the hospital building he almost tripped over the ball that was Ponta. “Oi I was sleeping you asshole!” The lucky cat grumbled once he saw Tanuma. “Well, spit it out. How is he?” Tanuma could hear the concern in his voice.

Tanuma scoffed, “he’s definitely not _good_ , stupid tsundere cat,” said cat bristled at the gibe. “He’s at least mostly blind in his left eye now because of the talons. I wouldn’t be able to tell you if he’s cursed or anything though.”

“Hmm, when does he get released?” Ponta looked thoughtful.

“The doctor said he should stay for one or two days to run tests for his eye, and start physical therapy. Why?” Tanuma asked skeptically, hopefully Ponta knew better than to try to break into a hospital, even in his self-dubbed ‘majestic form.’

“I should find Hinoe to see if the brat got cursed. But I don’t quite know where she is. I’ll have to look for her.” Ponta mused to himself, “thankfully, more powerful yokai prefer to not go into hospitals, so the brat should be fine even if I leave to find her.”

Tanuma didn’t like the thought of leaving Natsume vulnerable like that, “how long will it take to find her? How can she help?”

“Hinoe is an expert in curses, so if Natsume is cursed, she can help. Don’t ask me how long it will take to find her, you should be grateful I’m helping you weak humans at all.” The temperamental drunkard snapped back at him.

Tanuma sighed, and then there was a poof and the fat cat was gone. Off to find Hinoe he assumed. Now Tanuma was alone. “Oh,” he realized, “I’m lost.” He sighed as he walked back into the lobby of the hospital to ask for directions to the nearest trains station.

Later he’s sitting in the train car on his way back to Hitoyoshi, his head is fuzzy and full of all the days events jumbled up in his head. He should really process at least some of it, but he’s just tired. He wants to go to sleep and wake up to this whole day being one long horrendous nightmare.

He gets back to the temple and his father immediately descended on him, asking him where he was. Tanuma gave a short, clipped explanation of why he was out later than normal. His exhaustion must have shown because his father didn’t demand more of an explanation. Tanuma practically dragged himself to his room and flopped onto the floor. He used the last dregs of his energy to set up the futon (in the morning when he wakes up, he’ll realize he didn’t even change out of his dirt covered uniform). Just like that, he was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what u think of this ch in the comments please!!
> 
> also i going to change the update schedule to every OTHER friday. so instead of the next update being on may 22nd, it will be on may 29th.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tanuma wakes up the next day and has to go to school. He has a plan to talk to Taki.  
> Status update on Nyanko-sensei's search for Hinoe. As well as making plans for after school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im back!! I hope the two weeks between updates wasnt a horribly long wait, bc imma keep the update schedule like this!!! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧
> 
> now lets get into the story!

Tanuma wakes up with his alarm and realizes that he has to go to school, and he can’t just skip school to go to the hospital. Besides, he wanted to talk to Taki about the yokai, maybe her grandfather’s notes had some information about Vaara. So he rolled out of his futon (somehow he got under the covers while he slept) and frowned at the state of his clothes. Since he didn’t change out of his uniform it’s all wrinkled now as well being as covered in dirt.

Putting away his futon, “I’ll have to wash it later, it’s all dirty now,” he grumbled to himself. The tired boy finished getting ready for the day and headed out of his room. His father cornered him and demanded a better explanation about last night.

He was running a little later than he wanted to, since he had to let his father know he was heading to the hospital after school. There wasn’t any time for him to look for Taki before morning classes started. He rushed towards his class, making into his seat just before the bell rang.

Tanuma was counting the seconds until morning classes were over and he could escape to lunch. After what felt like years, the bell finally rang. Tanuma grabbed his lunch and raced out of his classroom.

He rushed over towards Taki’s classroom, but when he arrived her classmates told her that she had already left to eat somewhere else. Groaning in frustration he spun around and began to cycle through her favorite places to eat lunch. His feet automatically taking him towards the outside bench where he, Natsume and Taki always ate together.

As he approached he saw her familiar short brown hair sitting alone on the bench already eating. He thanked the gods for this tiny bit of mercy they had granted him. “Taki!” He called out to her, raising his hand to wave when she turned towards him. She smiled pleasantly and waved back at him. He noticed her eyebrows raise a fraction at the lack of their pale friend who usually tagged along.

“Hello Tanuma-kun, how have you been?” She asked him when he reached the bench, placing her lunch to the side to greet him.

“Honestly, I’ve been better,” he sighed and flopped down onto the bench. Taki waited patiently for him to continue, urging him on by turning towards him, showing him that he had her full attention. “So, umm, it’s kinda hard to explain. I mean, it’ll be easier to explain it to you because you already know about… yokai stuff…” he whispered that last bit much more quietly than the rest.

“Is that why Natsume-kun isn’t with you?” She gently questioned him.

“Yeah, he’s in the hospital right now actually.” He looked down at his hands in his lap.

Taki gasped loudly, “is he alright?”

“I’m not really sure to be honest. That’s kinda why I wanted to talk to you about this. Oh! I mean! That’s obviously not the  _ only _ reason! I know you care about him too so you deserve to know!” He got flustered, his hands flailing around wildly as he tried to explain himself.

Taki grabbed his hands and stilled them, “it’s fine I know what you meant. What happened? Can you tell me?” She knew Natsume well, so she understood that sometimes people just didn’t want to share everything. They just wanted to be comforted. Tanuma also understood that well.

“Okay, umm well,” he cringed at how bad he was at explaining things.

Taki could clearly see him struggling for words because she spoke up again, “why don’t you start from the beginning?”

“Okay,” Tanuma took a breath, as well as a moment to organize his thoughts a little bit. “So apparently, a troublesome yokai has recently come to Yatsuhara,” he started recounting the events of last evening to her. It quickly turned into quite an impressive word vomit. He tried to get through it quickly so that he had enough time to ask her about her grandfather’s notes before lunch was over.

He ended his spiel telling her about what he’d heard about Vaara from Ponta. “And that’s what I wanted your help with. I was wondering if you’d read anything about a yokai with talons that can steal other yokais’ powers in your grandfather’s notes?” He sucked in a deep breath. It was hard to talk so much so fast.

Taki had her hand to her chin, deep in thought. “Well, I can’t recall any yokai by that name, but I think I’ve read something about a yokai who can steal power. I don’t know if it does it with talons though. I can look after school tonight.”

Tanuma sighed in relief, hopefully those notes would shed some light on the situation. “That would be great Taki, I could come help if you want me too. But I was planning on visiting Natsume after school.”

“Would it be alright if I came along? I want to see if he’s alright.” She admitted shyly.

“I think that will probably be okay, we'll take the train there after school.” Tanuma suggested to her as he opened up his lunch and finally started eating. Taki agreed to the plan and went back to eating her lunch as well.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before they heard rustling in a nearby bush. Looking at each other, they tensed, waiting for something to come out. Ponta’s head emerged from the bush and his fat body waddled out with it.

“Oi! You kids sure are relaxed for people who have their friend in the hospital! Pathetic humans.” He was certainly not a sight for sore eyes, Tanuma groaned internally and rolled his eyes.

“Did you find that one yokai? Himiko was it?” Tanuma questioned the fat cat.

“It’s  _ Hi-no-e _ you stupid fool. And of course I found her, I’m the best after all.” He seemed to get hit after that smug statement, and then he proceeded to have an argument with someone who neither Taki nor Tanuma could see.

“Um, I’m sorry about that, Hinoe-san.” He looked in the general direction of where he assumed she was. Obviously he wouldn’t be able to hear her response, but it’s the thought that counts right?

“Oh oh! Let me draw a circle and we can talk to her!” Taki piped up from beside Tanuma, and she made quick work of drawing out the circle into the dirt with a stick. “There we go!”

A woman with long blue hair that was pulled back with a simple hair pin and wearing a long colorful kimono stepped into the circle. She clicked her tongue when she made eye contact with Tanuma. “Ugh, I hate men,” she complained to herself rolling her eyes. “But you,” she turned her attention to Taki, “are beautiful.”

Hinoe raised her arms and launched herself at Taki, causing Taki to startle and step back. Unfortunately Taki was standing away from the circle and the moment the female yokai stepped out of it’s bounds, she became invisible again. A rough breeze blew by Taki, causing her to almost fall over.

Ponta huffed in annoyance, “oi Hinoe, get off her. You’re here for a reason you know.”

_ ‘Was that harsh wind Hinoe then? Why is she all over Taki?’ _ Tanuma was thoroughly puzzled as he watched the yokai sulk back into the circle where they could see her.

“Stupid fat cat. Of course I know why I’m here. But I refuse to talk to that ugly  _ man _ .” She said while pointing at Tanuma.

Tanuma was offended by the blatant insult.

“Well you’re gonna hafta talk to him anyways.” Ponta huffed, Tanuma idly thought that if cats could cross their arms indignantly it would look like that. “Tell him what you told me, I don’t wanna have to repeat what you told me.”

The female yokai scoffed at Ponta, “admit it you fool, you’re just too stupid to even remember what I said.” Ponta sputtered and angrily defended himself, but Hinoe wasn’t paying him any attention. “I said I won’t talk to that man, but I said nothing about this lovely lady here.” She wiggled her eyebrows seductively at Taki. 

“Get it over with then, hag.” Ponta said to the woman.

Thankfully for him, his insult was drowned out by Tanuma exclaiming, “hey! That’s mean,” at the same time.

“Sorry  _ boy _ ,” she whirled on him with venom in her tone. “I don’t like humans to begin with. I’m only willing to talk to  _ her _ because my Natsume is in trouble.”

Taki looked back and forth between Tanuma and Hinoe, a bit conflicted on what to do. “Umm, I don’t really know the whole situation Hinoe-san… are you  _ sure _ you can’t talk to Tanuma?” 

“I will do no such thing. I do not speak to human men. He should be grateful I’m letting him listen at all.” She crossed her arms and huffed.

Tanuma was more than a bit peeved at how rude this yokai was acting, “it’s fine Taki, I’d rather not talk to her anymore either. I’ll just listen.”

Taki looked unsure, but she agreed nonetheless. Hinoe relaxed a bit, slipping into a more comfortable stance.

“Well the first thing I should tell you Taki-chan, is that I honestly can’t tell you much without seeing Natsume in person. Like if he’s cursed or not, if he has a mark then he’s probably cursed. But then again I’d need to see him in person. Both to see if he is cursed, and if he is, the type of curse he has.” She pulled a smoking pipe seemingly out of nowhere and took a puff. “But I do know a few things about that pesky Vaara. It’s a yokai that-”

“I told that priest boy about that pest already Hinoe, I’m sure they know enough about it. Move on.” Ponta grumbled, cutting her off.

The irritation at being interrupted was clear on Hinoe’s face. “Did you tell them  _ everything _ ?” After the nod of affirmation she let out a breath. “Well alright then, less work for me then I guess.” Shrugging, she continued on, “I don’t think this yokai particularly likes using curses, so it’s unlikely that Natsume is cursed.”

Everyone sighed in relief as she confirmed that for them all.

“However,” the group tensed as she began again, “I cannot say what effect the coating on the talons will have on a human. He might be weaker than before,” her hand went to her chin and she stood there deep in thought for a moment before shrugging. “He might not be affected at all though.”

Tanuma didn’t think that the bitter woman would answer his questions, so he turned to Taki to tell her to ask something. Before he could speak though they heard a few sets of footsteps coming towards them. Hinoe quickly disappeared from the circle, leaving the two humans and Ponta to be the only ones visible.

Taki glanced at the time, “oh! The break is almost over! We should head back to class Tanuma-kun.”

He was reluctant to leave without finishing the conversation, but he couldn’t be late to class. “Hey Ponta!”

He had to wait a moment for the lame bodyguard to stop griping because, “it’s Nyanko-sensei! Nyan-ko-sen-sei!”

Finally the cat shut up so Tanuma continued, “Taki and I were planning on going to the hospital to visit after school. We can meet up with you and sneak you in.”

“Hmm, that’s not a terrible idea.” Ponta would’ve sounded almost nice if he hadn’t added, “maybe you aren’t so stupid after all.”

“Are you gonna meet us or not?” Tanuma’s patience with this stuck-up yokai was running thin. 

Ponta had a one sided (at least to the humans present) conversation with Hinoe before agreeing to meet him after classes ended for the day outside the school grounds.

Both Taki and Tanuma had to head back to class, but they both felt a little better now that there was someone who could help Natsume nearby.

They walked back towards their classrooms together, “I didn’t know yokai could be so pretty.” Taki commented, “the only ones I’ve seen were very ugly, full offense intended.” She laughed at her own little joke.

Tanuma chuckled with her, “yeah, they must all be rude though. I’ve never met a nice one. But they exist according to Natsume.” Both teens sobered a little at the reminder of their hospitalized friend.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Tanuma-kun. Our Natsume won’t be put down by this. He’s been through worse I’m sure.” Taki sounded so sure of herself. Tanuma wished he could feel the same way about the situation. They both parted ways and reached their respective classrooms just before the bell rang.

Tanuma could barely focus on his classes for the rest of the day.  ~~ It didn’t help that all his least favorite classes were after lunch either ~~ . He just wanted school to finish already so he could go see Natsume. Hopefully Hinoe would be more helpful when they were at the hospital… also he was still irritated at her for being so rude.

The last class before the end of the day began, and Tanuma was counting down the seconds until they could leave. All he could do for now was wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u enjoyed this chill/not rlly angsty ch, bc if everything goes according to plan (bc sometimes my brain says "no do this first instead" smh) next ch should hurt (¬‿¬)
> 
> see you on June 12th!!!!


	8. Discontinuing this story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i apologize for this everyone（；´д｀）ゞ  
> i explain more in the body of this ch

Hi guys…. So yea you read the title of this ch. I’m rlly sorry abt abandoning this fic like this. But i honestly dont enjoy writing this story anymore and ive lost my motivation for it. It’s actually one of the things that causes me the most stress rn (surprisingly). 

I started writing this story back in october of last year (2019), and i had sworn to myself that i would not post anything until i had  _ finished _ writing it all bc i absolutely  **hate** when fics just cut off like this. But i was a big dumb and started posting it before i had finished it. I feel like that was the worst decision i couldve made and im sorry for getting everyones hopes up. 

Im going to give u guys the rundown of what i  _ wanted _ to have happen for the rest of the story:

  * I wanted to have the poison that was on Vaara’s talons steal Natsume’s ability to see yokai. Causing him to have lots and lots of paranoia from not being able to see them.
  * I wanted tanuma to have to sit by and watch as Natsume fell apart from the paranoia and anxiety (i imagine he wouldnt be able to sleep at night bc of it too), slowly eating him up inside as well.
  * I hoped that i would be able to convey the terror that natsume would feel from not being able to see yokai anymore, and having such a central piece of himself taken away from him.
    * I also wanted him to have a stronger attachment to nyanko bc he cant protect himself anymore so he feels vulnerable w/o the cat.
    * Also i was gonna make nyakno more protective/territorial over natsume
  * I wanted to have tanuma, natori, and taki try to find a solution only to discover there is none.
    * And natsume would accept the news…
    * **BUT** i wanted to convey that he actually did had his hopes up that they could find a solution (other than drawing circles everywhere) and when he found out there was none his soul is crushed into tiny bits
  * And i wanted the fic to end with them both having several deep conversations about the event and tanuma’s guilt about it.
  * Their relationship would be stronger and more open w each other. (again u couldve read this fic w either platonic tanunatsu or romantic either way works here)



Id written some of the dialogue i had hoped to use in the fic so ill leave them here for u to have:

A conversation between tanum and natori:

“You can’t fix it now.”

“Isn’t there anything we haven’t tried yet?!”

“No. We’ve tried everything. It can’t be fixed. He’ll never see out of that eye again.”

“It’s not just his eye! He lost his Sight too! He’s so scared, all the time because he can’t see the yokai anymore!”

“Well, I don’t know if I can do anything about that either kid. You’ve just gotta be there for him. Let him know he’s safe.”

“But  _ I _ can’t see the yokai either. I can’t protect him when I can’t see what’s out there either.”

“That’s a good point, I’ll try looking for a way to get his Sight back. In the meantime, try to stay out of the forest. They don’t like areas with a lot of people, so they’ll stay away on their own if you are around a crowd.”

+++

Natsume and tanuma:

“Why can’t we just talk about it?”

“It’s over. I wasn’t even the one who got hurt. It was you. I don’t see why it would be affecting me.”

“It  _ is _ affecting you. You’re blaming yourself. It wasn’t your fault Tanuma.”

“How can I  _ not _ blame myself?! You’re half blind now Natsume! If I had listened to you when you said it was too dangerous, you wouldn’t have had to protect me like that.”

“I know, but we can’t change what you did the past, trust me, I know.”

“But–”

“You didn’t hurt me, I put myself in that position. And anyways, I’d rather be half blind, that have you be hurt.”

+++

Natsume and tanuma again:

"Don't cry."

"But it's my fault you're like this!"

"But I'm still here. I'm still alive."

"But you're half-blind!"

"You seem more upset about that than I am Tanuma."

"Why aren't you upset about this!?"

"I'm trying to accept this new normal, you should too."

+++

Natsume and tanuma again:

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize."

"But it's my all my fault!"

"How many times do I have to say, that it's really not. It's mine, Tanuma."

"No! There's no way it's your fault!"

"Well If it's not my fault, then there's no way it can be yours either."

P.S. the last three convos (the natsume and tanuma ones) i was picking between to use in the deep convo where they talk abt it all, i wasnt quite sure how to use them

Once again im rlly sorry abt leaving this story here, i wish i could tell u that i might continue it,,,, but in all honesty i doubt it and i dont wanna get ur hopes up. I was rlly into natsume yuujinchou when i started this (last october) but now im more into bnha.  Im writing a few fics for that fandom rn so stick around if u wanna see those. Im gonna try to not make the same mistake i made here w those ones.


End file.
